New W108 Owner with Questions

[tadek1981]

Hi All,

I recently purchased a 1968 250se sedan. It was restored/restomodded by a previous owner who put a Chevy small block V8 into it. There are still many things to address, so it's a bit of a project for me. The car, visually, is stunning and it runs well. I am not in touch with the person who actually built it so there are lots of mysteries to solve. The issues that I could use input on are:

1) The power steering doesn't work. It has the original Vickers pump and reservoir so I'm hoping to replace this and get it working again. I found some rebuilt ones on ebay for around $400 but I was wondering if anyone knows of any other sources or if this is a part that I can take to any power steering system rebuilder to have done locally to me (Houston, TX).

2) The only power window that works as intended is the passenger side front. The rest have issues. You can hear the motor running but the windows don't move much on their own without help. I assume this is a regulator issue, but want to make sure since they do seem to be going up and down, but not always taking the glass with them. I'd also love sources to buy these.

3) The car has the thermo king system and a fan blows air through the vents on the interior, but it's not cold. No condenser was ever installed, but I think I'll have to go with a custom set up or GM product to tie it all in.

The rest of the issues are small and can be addressed over time, but the above I'd like to address sooner rather than later.

Thanks in advance!

[Benz Dr.]

You will likely need to use the power steering system from the GM engine. The windows are a matter of freeing up the regulators. AC is what you expected.

[MikeE63]

Re: Windows. I would say it's worth trying to clean & lube the reglators to see if that works; cheap & easy to do. I just went through my 1970 280SEL over the course of a week pulling off all door panels one at a time then cleaning & lubing the regulators per the videos found on the internet and each window now goes down quickly without issue in about 3 seconds. First time i did a door panel I was super careful and it took me about an hour & 15min start to finish; I just did the last one and it took me about 30min. Good luck with the car.

[Tomguy]

Regarding the A/C and power steering: You have a Chevy SBC, I'm guessing that the PS pump and A/C compressor from any compatible engine to yours would mount up and fit in the engine bay. A PS pump is a hydraulic pump so as long as it sends power to the steering gearbox, it'll likely work just fine. Same with the A/C. An A/C compressor is just that, a pump. I'd suggest finding an R134a compressor that bolts up to your engine, any generic aftermarket condensor and dryer that fit, an R134a expansion valve or orifice tube, and flush the existing evaporator and then hook it up, draw a vacuum, and fill.